The 15th

Chess Olympiad The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams representing nations of the world compete. FIDE organises the tournament and selects the host nation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, FIDE held an Online Chess Olympiad in 2020 and ...

( bg, 15-ата Шахматна олимпиада, ''15-ata Shahmatna olimpiada''), organized by

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...

and comprising an openAlthough commonly referred to as the ''men's division'', this section is open to both male and female players. team tournament, as well as several other events designed to promote the game of

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

, took place between September 15 and October 10, 1962, in

Varna, Bulgaria Varna ( bg, Варна, ) is the third-largest List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, city in Bulgaria and the largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and in the Northern Bulgaria region. Situated strategically in the ...

. The Soviet team with six GMs, led by world champion Botvinnik, lived up to expectations and won their sixth consecutive gold medals, with Yugoslavia and Argentina taking the silver and bronze, respectively.

Results

Preliminaries

A total of 37 teams entered the competition and were divided into four preliminary groups of eight to ten teams each. The top three from each group advanced to Final A, the teams placed 4th-6th to Final B, and the rest to Final C, where they were joined by a Bulgarian "B" team that played outside the contest. All preliminary groups as well as Finals A and B were played as

round-robin tournament A round-robin tournament (or all-go-away-tournament) is a competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero ...

s, while Final C with 14 teams was played as an 11-round

Swiss system tournament A Swiss-system tournament is a non-eliminating tournament format that features a fixed number of rounds of competition, but considerably fewer than for a round-robin tournament; thus each competitor (team or individual) does not play all the other ...

. The Soviet Union took first place in group 1, well ahead of the two German teams, East with half a point more than West. Sweden, Belgium, and Spain took the places 4–6, while Norway, Turkey, and Greece finished at the bottom of the group. Group 2 was won by the United States, while the Bulgarian hosts and Romania were tied for second place. Israel, Mongolia, and Switzerland made up the middle part of the group, while Puerto Rico and Tunisia had to settle for Final C. Yugoslavia clinched group 3, ahead of the Netherlands and Czechoslovakia. Poland, Iceland, and Finland had to settle for Final B. Meanwhile, France, Uruguay, Luxembourg, and Cyprus finished at the bottom of the group. Group 4 was won by Argentina, ahead of Hungary and Austria. Denmark, Cuba, and England made up the middle part of the group, while Albania, India, Iran, and Ireland completed the field. * Group 1: * Group 2: * Group 3: * Group 4:

Final

: : :

Final «A»

Final «B»

Final «C»

Individual medals

* Board 1:

Friðrik Ólafsson Friðrik Ólafsson (born 26 January 1935) is an Icelandic chess grandmaster. He was president of FIDE from 1978 to 1982. He is a six-time Icelandic Chess Champion and a two-time Nordic Chess Champion. Chess career Friðrik was born in Reykja ...

14 / 18 = 77.8% * Board 2:

Tigran Petrosian Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian (, ; 17 June 1929 – 13 August 1984) was a Soviet-Armenian chess grandmaster, and World Chess Champion from 1963 to 1969. He was nicknamed "Iron Tigran" due to his almost-impenetrable defensive playing style, ...

10 / 12 = 83.3% * Board 3:

Boris Spassky Boris Vasilievich Spassky ( rus, Бори́с Васи́льевич Спа́сский, Borís Vasíl'yevich Spásskiy; born January 30, 1937) is a Russian chess grandmaster who was the tenth World Chess Champion, holding the title from 1969 ...

11 / 14 = 78.6% * Board 4:

Borislav Ivkov Borislav Ivkov (12 November 1933 – 14 February 2022) was a Serbian chess Grandmaster. He was a World championship candidate in 1965, and played in four more Interzonal tournaments, in 1967, 1970, 1973, and 1979. Ivkov was a three-time Yugos ...

and

Raúl Sanguineti Raúl Carlos SanguinetiSometimes spelled ''Sanguinetti''. The Italian surname ''Sanguinetti'' is spelled with a double ''t''. This case makes an exception, probably due to an error in Sanguineti's ancestors immigration papers. Correct spell can be ...

13½ / 16 = 84.4% * 1st reserve:

Efim Geller Efim Petrovich Geller (russian: Ефим Петрович Геллер, uk, Юхим Петрович Геллер; 8 March 1925 – 17 November 1998) was a Soviet chess player and world-class grandmaster at his peak. He won the Soviet Champi ...

10½ / 12 = 87.5% * 2nd reserve:

Mikhail Tal Mikhail Nekhemyevich Tal; rus, Михаил Нехемьевич Таль, ''Mikhail Nekhem'yevich Tal' '', ; sometimes transliterated ''Mihails Tals'' or ''Mihail Tal'' (9 November 1936 – 28 June 1992) was a Soviet-Latvian chess player ...

10 / 13 = 76.9% At the other end of the spectrum, Milton Ioannidis of Cyprus lost all of his 20 games, the worst score ever of any player at any Olympiad.

References

15th Chess Olympiad: Varna 1962
OlimpBase {{Chess Olympiads 15th Chess Olympiad Olympiad 15 Chess Olympiad 15 Olympiad 15 1962 in Bulgarian sport